Fractured Reality
by Thrashochist
Summary: Mio Akiyama has always struggled with her fear of the morbid and macabre but now she must face that fear head on… When she agrees to help out a Metal band. Not a cross-over, but may have random cameos from random animes where I see fit. Rating changed to M due to language and may include scenes of a sexual nature (It's M now, I can write what I want. *Laughs Evilly*)
1. Fractured Reality

**Fractured Reality**

Summary: Mio Akiyama has always struggled with her fear of the morbid and macabre but now she must face that fear head on… When she agrees to help out a Metal band. Not a cross-over, but may have random cameos from random animes where I see fit. Rated T for language (may change)

A small smile was plastered on the face of the usually solemn eighteen year old Daisuke as he came out of the music shop. He was all set for his band's first gig; He just bought new drum sticks, he'd arranged his transport for the gig, and the band were in top form after practicing for two weeks with their stand-in bassist Minoru Miyasaki. The guy was quite arrogant and kind of pretentious at times, but he had a Degree in playing the bass and when you heard him play, even people who had no musical knowledge could tell he was a pro.

Plus, Daisuke couldn't help getting excited about his upcoming performance. They were supporting 'Kalmah' a band from Finland with quite a large following, as well as a band that Daisuke himself has loved the music of for as long as he became a musician.

Pretty much everything was set up for an almost perfect first gig… And that's when his phone rang.

Looking at the Id on the phone reading 'Philip Jones,' Daisuke immediately recognized the name of his band's Guitarist/Vocalist. Must be some cool update about the band and/or upcoming gig.

Bringing his phone up to his ear he answered "Hey man" in English, to his band mate from overseas "what's up?"

"Daisuke-kun…" replied Philip. Philip had learned Japanese very well, to the point that if you were talking on the phone to him without knowing him formally, a native Japanese speaker would think he was from another Asian country due to him having a strange accent while being adept at the language. But after meeting him they'd be extremely surprised that the man wasn't Asian at all, but was British and was black. The odd thing about this particular phone call is that Phil would usually drop formalities and honorifics when talking to the band… unless it was bad news.

"What's wrong?.. Someone dead?" Daisuke said jokingly, hoping to lighten whatever mood he'll be in after whatever news Phil has is uttered.

"I WISH" replied Phil, rather venomously. "Minoru decided to leave"

"What?.. You mean after he's played the gig right?" Daisuke feeling his body temperature rising

"No, that BASTARD's decided we're not worth his time. So he's fucked off to play in some freestyle Jazz thing or some shit" Phil clearly not caring for aforementioned Bastard

"FUCK!" Daisuke roared, not caring that he was in the middle of a crowded street. Startling almost everybody within a twenty foot radius of him, one high school girl even going as far to run away from him and scream in fright. "What the hell are we going to do about the gig now?! Is there no convincing him to play the show?

"Tried man, there's just no getting through his fat fucking head!" Phil replied with noticeably growing distain for the person in question.

"Well who the hell can we get for a bass player on such short notice?!" Daisuke anguished, hands shaking with rage.

"Don't know man, I can't think of ANYONE I know who could fill the slot." Phil sighed.

"kusoooooooo" Daisuke hissed with anger increasing

"All we can do is see if Hiroshiknows anyone who can fill the slot. I'll book a rehearsal for us tomorrow, usual time, and we'll discuss our options then. Try to keep calm about this and don't break your pho…" The call was ended by Daisuke breaking the phone in half, his anger needing an outlet from the stress.

"Crap" Daisuke thought to himself "Another phone broken due to lack of temper control… oh well, It sucked anyway." He proceeded to walk back towards his home, trying in vain to mentally prepare for having to possibly cancel the gig he'd wanted to play so badly.

* * *

Mio ran as an automatic reaction to a viciously loud curse from a short boy wearing a black T-shirt and fairly baggy jeans. When the shock she felt of being next to an explosion of angry noise died down after two minutes, she didn't really know where she was. She started to observe the scenery where she found herself with her heart still beating hard from the mad sprint, till a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Mio-Senpai!" a shorter girl approached Mio, jogging in order to catch up to the older girl quicker. When she was finally within range to hold a proper conversation, her breathing was ragged.

"Azusa-chan" Mio replied

"Why'd you run so far?" Azusa asked through heavy breaths. Keeping up with her senpai was extremely difficult, due to a difference in height, her senpai having longer legs.

"Weren't you there?!" Mio said, defensively "that guy was scary!"

"Yeah, But running two blocks away is kind of excessive…" Azusa answered.

"Oh…" Mio blushed for the excessive, and to some, impressive distance she covered to evacuate something as trivial as an annoyed teenager.

"Plus, he wasn't scarier than you are when you get pissed off" a familiar girl said smirking while leisurely strolling to the two girls.

"Ritsuuuuuuuu!" Mio snarled at her often infuriating friend.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh." Ritsu mockingly imitated Mio's scream from when she ran from the raging boy.

"RITSUUUUUU!" Mio snarled more aggressively.

"Oh, look who it is." Ritsu said in mild surprise, looking somewhere behind Mio.

"Hmmm?... EEEK!" Mio turned around and recognised the young man she ran scared from.

"What?!" The boy said confused "something on my face?.. Is it my shirt" He said slightly amused pointing at his face, and then his t-shirt which had artwork on it depicting a skeleton shooting fire out of it's mouth while it held a skull in each hand. A shirt that Mio found quite frightening.

"She's scared of you because of your loud tantrum five minutes ago" Ritsu commented with a shit-eating grin.

"Oh… Yeah… That…" the boy became uncomfortable as he realised that the girls he was faced with were the same girls that ran scared when he blew up for a reason unknown to Mio. "I'm sorry you had to see that" he gave a slight bow as he quietly apologised.

"T-That's ok" Mio stuttered, slowly calming to the once threatening figure in front of her. Since he seemed appropriately embarrassed about his outburst.

"Why'd ya get so pissed off?" Ritsu said through her almost signature smirk. "And why'd ya follow us?" The second question putting Mio slightly more on edge again, Ritsu was good at that!

"Uh… I live here." The boy pointed at an apartment building on his right that the group were standing outside of.

"Aha! Good answer!" Ritsu posed dramatically pointing her finger at the boy. "Now answer my other question!"

"Who do you think you are, Phoenix Wright?" Azusa asked irritated. "It's none of our business, Ritsu-Senpai!"

"Heh heh, it's fine" the boy said through chuckles. "My band is just in a sticky situation is all… I don't suppose any of you know any bass players?"

"Um… well… I play bass" Mio said meekly

"Really!?" The boy's face lit up slightly from hearing that. "W-well, my name is Daisuke, and my band is ca-"

"Oh no!" Ritsu put her hand up in protest to where this conversation was heading "Mio is OUR bass player! If you want her for your band, you'll have to pay me Fifty thou-OUCH!" before Ritsu could finish her sentence, Mio gave her a comical smack to her skull.

"Enough crap for five minutes!" Mio scolded her friend, now massaging her bruised scalp.

"ughhh… these hits will eventually give me a brain haemorrhoid" Ritsu groaned.

"Haemorrhage. Senpai." Azusa corrected with her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Anyway" Mio got back to the boy she was trying to talk with. "I'm sorry but I'm not sure I can be of much help. I'm in a band already, and I can't afford to neglect my school work and studies and-"

"It'll only be for until we finish our gig two weeks from now!" Daisuke interrupted with a hint of desperation "and after that, we'll just find someone else willing to join the band permanently… We really don't want to lose this gig."

"Well…" Mio trailed off, thinking weather or not to accept or reject.

"Go for it, Senpai!" Azusa encouraged, her tiny fists clenched and eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. "Two weeks won't hurt, and the Light Music Club won't be doing much for that time anyway!"

'That much is true, at least' Mio thought to herself. "Ok…" Mio said uncertainly. "I'll give it a shot."


	2. Crippling Velocity

**Crippling Velocity**

Mio gazed out of the window of the bus thinking about the upcoming rehearsal with Daisuke's band… Which, come to think of it, she knew nothing about! Daisuke was about to tell her about it, but Ritsu interrupted him, DAMN IT! After Mio agreed to help Daisuke's band they just exchanged phone numbers and departed.

Mio was jarred out of her thoughts when she realised that her stop was near. She promptly picked up her bass off the seat next to her and made her way off the bus. Looking round she saw that she was in a rather run down looking area; a few homeless people were sleeping in the nearby alleyways, a man in a suit was handing out pamphlets for what seemed to be a dodgy hostess bar and there seemed to be quite a lot of discarded chewing gum and regurgitated ramen on the road and pavement. Not the greatest place to be all alone, especially if you don't exactly know where you're supposed to go. It seemed that the best course of action would be to call Daisuke and ask for directions… maybe ask if he thought it was safe for her to walk there by herself as well.

After dialling Daisuke's phone number, Mio found herself getting directly through to voicemail. There was no ringing beforehand. 'Maybe he has no signal at the moment' Mio thought to herself… then again, when Daisuke gave her his phone number he didn't look at his phone! Maybe he made a mistake, and she wasn't calling the right phone! Maybe she had no way to contact him AT ALL! Maybe she had to wait in this scary slum all on her own until the bus comes back! Maybe she…

"Mio-san?" a slightly familiar voice filled with confusion and a hint of concern snapped Mio out of her progressively worrying thoughts.

"Huh!?" Mio's head swiftly turned to the left to inform her that Daisuke was standing next to her. "Oh, Daisuke-san konnichiwa." Mio visibly relaxed now that she wasn't completely alone in this strange and slightly grotty environment.

"You ok?" Daisuke asked with an eyebrow raised. "You seemed to be getting a bit… frantic."

"Y-yeah" Mio chuckled sheepishly "I just tried calling you and you didn't pick up. I got a little worried that I won't be able to find the place"

"Ah!" Daisuke's eyes widened in realization. "…Yeah, I forgot yesterday I… lost my phone before I met you." Daisuke laughed nervously only to quickly frown and sigh. "I only had it for two weeks as well"

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear tha… hold on, two weeks? You were able to remember that your phone's number after owning it for two weeks?" Mio asked with confusion.

"Yeah, why?" Daisuke deadpanned.

"Just… that's pretty impressive. Did you spend an hour committing it to memory or something?"

"No… Why would I do that?"

"How else would you remember it?"

"I just… do" Daisuke was clearly getting increasingly confused at Mio's line of questioning.

"What's my phone number then?"

Daisuke then recounted a phone number unwavering as he did. Mio checked her phone number… he was 100% correct.

"How… did you do that?" Mio asked, completely stunned "Your just… able to remember my phone number after hearing it only once? Yesterday even?!"

"Yeah, so?"

"… So where is the rehearsal space?" Mio asked defeated. 'If we continue this we'll be here forever' she thought to herself.

"This way, it's not far. Follow me" Daisuke lead Mio past the ally way round the corner where Mio decided to bring a up new topic of conversation.

"So… I'm guessing by your t-shirt that you've been to Egypt?" Mio asked looking down at Daisuke's shirt

"…WHAT!?" Daisuke clearly wasn't expecting that question. He immediately checked his t-shirt to get an answer why she would make such an odd assumption. It depicted a dog-like skull wearing a pharaoh's headdress with text saying 'NILE' above it. "No!" Daisuke burst into laughter. "No, it's a band shirt. The band happens to be fascinated by ancient Egyptian civilisation, so their artwork and lyrics are based around it. Nile is definitely one of my favourite bands, and George Kollias is definitely one of my favourite drummers!" Daisuke added with an enthusiastic grin.

"Oh, so you're the drummer of your band?" Mio questioned as they turned down a nearby alley way.

"Yeah, did I not mention that?" Daisuke said raising an eyebrow.

"No you didn't" Mio replied respectfully. "I don't think you got the chance with my friend Ritsu's interruption, you remember her? The obnoxious one?

"Oh yeah! Sorry" Daisuke chuckled "Forgot about that."

"Don't worry about it. I think all I need to know is how fast your songs are and how challenging they are to play before I can really help you guys"

"Sure, most of our songs are pretty fast. But I'd imagine our average Bpm is…"

"CRIPPLING VELOCITY!" A loud roar from a boarded up window of the dilapidated looking building cut off Daisuke mid-sentence causing Mio to jump away from the building in fright.

"Huh… seems we're rehearsing on the ground floor this time. That's a first." Daisuke mused out loud.

"W-w-what do you mean?" Mio stuttered, knees shaking like jelly. "What was that?"

"Hmm? What? The scream?" Daisuke pointed to the boarded window. "That was our vocalist" he said bluntly

"Y-y-your vocalist!" Mio's eyes widened.

"Yeah, I mean we are a death metal band after all" Daisuke deadpanned.

Mio just starred at Daisuke unsure what to say other than more stuttering. "D-d-death metal!"

"Yeah" Daisuke replied confused at Mio's reaction, until it hits him. "Oh, did I forget to mention that too?" Mio gave no reaction. "Mio-san?... MIO-SAN!" Mio careened left and right before falling back into unconsciousness with barely enough time for Daisuke to catch her and stop her head making a collision with the hard ground "Mio-san! Mio-san!" Daisuke tried to snap Mio out of it to no avail. She was out for the count. "Well shit!" He sighed. "What now?" He asked himself aloud.

"Daisuke, you Penis-butt!" Daisuke turned his head to see the shit-eating grin of his guitarist/vocalist Philip Jones. The grin then turned into a look of concern once he saw Mio's unconscious form. "What happened here?"

"She fainted, numb-nuts!" Daisuke retorted snarkily at Phil's dumb question.

"Why?" Phil's grin returned. "Did you grope her?"

"Take this seriously and help, Dick-nose!" Daisuke snapped.

"Alright!" Phil said through light chuckling, his grin never faltering while he helped Daisuke lift Mio into the studio. "Is she a friend of yours?" Phil asked, his joking personality subsided for now. "Do you know who she's rehearsing with?"

"Yeah, with us. I asked her to fill the slot and she agreed." Daisuke answered. Phil almost dropped Mio in surprise when Daisuke announced their potentially unpleasantly hectic search for a bass player was finished. "Careful man!" Daisuke yelped when Mio's weight was shifted entirely onto him.

"_Sorry mate!_" Phil blurted out in English as he corrected himself and took back his share of Mio's weight. "So… this girl agreed to play for us?!"

"Yep" Daisuke answered as they entered the building. The manager of the building watched as Daisuke and Phil brought a passed out girl, with an expression that could only be described as priceless. This only went away when the cigarette he was smoking fell from his gaping mouth and landed on his hand, burning it.

"Ow!" The manager exclaimed. "Er… does she need medical help." Panic evident in his voice.

"I think she'll be alright." Daisuke replied. "Some water might be a good idea though."

"RIGHT!" the manager sped off to fetch Mio some water. Leaving the three of them alone.

"So…" Phil started. "Do you know exactly why she fainted?"

Daisuke grimaced. "She seemed to freak out when she found out we played death metal."

"So she agreed to play for a band she knew nothing about, then proceeded to freak out after finding out what genre they play?!"

"That about sums it up." Daisuke said flatly. Phil then proceeded to laugh harder than Daisuke ever saw him laugh before. The manager came back with a bottle of spring water with an annoyed look on his face. Daisuke couldn't blame him though since worrying about someone's health and having to deal with some idiot laughing their ass off isn't an ideal situation. "Arigatou." Daisuke thanked the manager for the bottle of water and proceeded to try to wake up Mio by lightly tapping on her cheek. "Mio-san?" Mio started stirring from unconsciousness and slowly started to wake up.

* * *

Upon coming back to reality Mio found herself face to face with Daisuke and a very tall foreign man unrecognisable to her, he was clearly of African descent, had hair going down to the small of his back, and he seemed to be trying his hardest not to laugh about something. Judging by the design on his t-shirt, he was most likely one of Daisuke's bandmates.

"Mio-san?"

"Huh?" Mio finally replied to Daisuke.

"You ok? You sort of… fainted." Daisuke explained bluntly, handing her the bottled water.

"Oh… Did I?.. I-I…" Mio blushed. Not being able to think of a proper response, she quickly took a swig of the water.

"Hi." The foreign man chimed in. "I'm Philip Jones, the rhythm guitarist and vocalist for Daisuke's band. I understand you agreed to play bass for us miss?.."

Mio's brain did a double take when she remembered the roar from earlier, noting that the owner of that scary voice is now standing in front of her! He seemed pleasant and well-mannered enough, but she couldn't deny that she was extremely intimidated by his very large form and his shirt bearing a blood-red skull with 'SLAYER' written above it in the same grim shade of red! "A-Akiyama Mio." She introduced herself in a stutter that was fast becoming her normal speech.

"Well Akiyama-san." Phil continued. "On behalf of the band, I'd like to thank you for…"

"Guys! What the hell is taking so long!" a new voice unknown to Mio came in to the mix. The other members turned to face him, allowing Mio to see him too. He was a slim man of average height with fairly long hair going slightly past his shoulders with blue streaks in it. His t-shirt, sporting a picture of the grim reaper looming over a gravestone with 'Children Of Bodom' written on it, led Mio to make an educated guess that he was another part of this band.

"Sorry Hiroshi" Daisuke answered. "We were just…"

"What? Going babe hunting without me?!" Hiroshi exclaimed disbelievingly the moment he saw Mio. Barely after he finished his sentence Mio blushed furiously and Daisuke and Phil face-palmed at exactly the same time with a look of irritation and amusement respectively.

"No, you idiot!" Daisuke retorted looking annoyed and slightly embarrassed. "She's filling in on bass for us!"

"Really?! Awesome!" Hiroshi's expression turned from hurt to ecstatic when that bit of news was announced. "Nice to meet you!" He bowed politely to Mio "I'm Mori Hiroshi, but you may call me Hiroshi, I must say it's great to finally have a girl in the band!" Mio blushed some more, Daisuke sighed in annoyance and Phil just snorted in amusement.

"Anyway!" Daisuke started, rolling his eyes as he did. "We should get started. We've already wasted half an hour!"

Author's Notes: thank you for reading this far. Hope you're enjoying it, please leave a review (Good, Bad, Trolling, Whatever) constructive criticism is always appreciated.


	3. Metal Thrashing Mad

**Metal Thrashing Mad**

Author note: Not sure how far I can push the language in this story under the T rating. If you think it needs to be changed to M, please state so in a review or personal message. Thank you.

The band had just finished setting everything up. Guitars tuned, drums adjusted and bass adjusted to the tuning of the rest of the band "Um… Why do I need my bass tuned a tone down?" Mio asked.

"Because that's the tuning this band has always used." Answered Phil. "We feel that tuning lower gives us a heavier sound, and in Death Metal, heavy is good!" he added with a somewhat scary smirk

"But tuning too low will make it sound like someone is taking a crap on your pickups." Daisuke chimed in, causing laughter from the other two males in the room but making Mio clutch her bass tighter at the unpleasant thought of someone dropping a turd on her beloved bass.

"Anyway, where should we start?" Hiroshi questioned everyone present.

"Well, that depends. Do you have any questions before we begin Akiyama-san?" Phil asked Mio

"Well… I've yet to learn what this band's name is." Mio pondered. As soon as she said that a smirk appeared on Phil's face.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to mention that. Our band is called DEAD PUPPIES IN A BLENDER!" Phil said with an evil grin.

"W… Wha…" Mio muttered inaudibly, while the band burst into laughter.

"N-no we… We're called" Daisuke added through breathless laughter. "SEX WITH A DICKLESS FOETUS!" Mio was becoming more uncomfortable.

"BOTFLIES IN YOUR EYES!" Hiroshi yelled trying to sound comically evil. Mio didn't know what a Botfly was, so Hiroshi's one didn't do anything to her. However Phil clearly cringed and shuddered.

"EW! No! Bad Hiroshi! Too far!" Phil scolded.

"WHAT!" Hiroshi yelped with an amused look of complete disbelief. "Bullshit!" More laughing, Mio actually managed to join in.

"Anyway." Daisuke cut across the others to talk to Mio. "Our band is called Fractured Reality. Anything else you'd like to know Mio-san?"

"How many songs do I need to learn for your gig?"

"Eight" answered Hiroshi. Mio gulped as she remembered Daisuke mentioning that it was two weeks away.

"Ok, I say we start with our simplest songs. Agreed?" asked Phil. Daisuke and Hiroshi nodded. "Alright Mio-san, the bass parts basically follow the rhythm guitar so play what frets I'm playing. We'll show how the song goes first though" Mio nods and sits down in a chair facing Phil to watch him. Phil turns to his band "Ok guys, ready? _Insane Messiah_"

Daisuke clicked his sticks four times. And then it happened, the song started. Mio jumped as the distorted guitars were making their wrath known by roaring like thunder. Mio had seen her teacher, Sawako Yamanaka do this before. But the drums were making the ground shake as if an earthquake was happening, the snare was being hit once every bar, the ride cymbal was hit a few times every bar. But the bass drum was being constantly punished, Mio didn't think it was possible for human legs to go that fast! Ritsu was a good drummer and she only WISHED she could go that fast. And then the vocals came in, Phil's loud harsh roar capable of striking fear into the most hardened Yakuza. His friendly demeanour dissolved away from his face as his focus was fully set on the brutality of this morbid symphony. This, coupled with him being over six foot tall, made him probably the scariest visage in existence at this moment. When the song got to the bridge section and Hiroshi began his werewolf cry-like guitar solo, Phil started throwing his hair around in a violent head banging frenzy. Daisuke suddenly went FASTER on the drums with a gleeful look on his face akin to that of a sadistic murderer going in for the kill. These beasts of musical ferocity culminated into a force of terrifying magnitude that could force demons to do its bidding and enslave humanity under penalty of snapping your body in half!

SNAP! "Mio-san?" SNAP SNAP! Phil's attempts to break Mio out of shock by snapping his fingers near her face seemed to not be working "Mio-san?"

"Try poking her?" Suggested Daisuke.

"Yeah, in her boobs!" Hiroshi said. Earning a glower from the other two. "I was just joki-"

"Go sit in the corner." Phil said sternly, pointing towards the back of the room.

"Seriously though. Let me try something." Hiroshi propped his guitar against the wall and sat next to Mio. Then proceeded to put his arm around her and lean towards her. "Hey gorgeous, you come hear often?" he said in a pervy tone of voice while sporting a lecherous grin.

"SHUT UP RITSU!" Mio shouted, FINALLY snapping out of her trance… punching Hiroshi in the face as she did.

The first thing Mio became aware of when she came to was uproarious laughter and Hiroshi on the floor with a hand on his cheek looking very surprised. "What the… What… oh, you finished the song?" Mio blinked

"That was ten minutes ago!" Daisuke answered still laughing his ass off.

"That was one hell of a punch!" Hiroshi stated with a smirk.

"_Our bassist is a fucking NINJA!_" Phil yelled laughing nearly as hard as Daisuke.

Mio took a few seconds to register what just happened and realised what she'd done. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Mori-san!"

"It's ok!" Hiroshi replied, starting to laugh himself. "You ok to learn the song now?"

Mio thought about that particular question for a moment. "S-sure! I'll um… Just go to the bathroom first!" Mio promptly left the room.

"I need to go too" Hiroshi stated, moving to the door.

"No trying to join her!" Phil joked still snickering. Hiroshi just responded with a snort as he left the room.

Mio was just about to enter the bathroom when Hiroshi called out to her. "Mio-san."

"Huh? Mori-san?" Mio felt a twinge of guilt after looking at his face, reminding her that she just punched him.

"Hey, if our music makes you feel really uncomfortable…" Hiroshi hesitated for a moment. "You can back out if you want."

"Huh?" Mio was stunned 'I thought this band was desperate for a bassist?' she thought to herself. "Wouldn't that put your band at risk of not being able to play the concert you're striving to play? And wouldn't you and the other two be upset?"

"Yeah, but we'll get over it. Daisuke will probably take longer to get over it since this'll be his first live performance, but he will get over it." Hiroshi waved away Mio's concerns. "I don't want you to feel like you're being forced into this band. If you truly feel that you won't be able to stomach doing this; you can back out, no hard feelings, and we'll try to find someone else. It won't be easy, but we can try." Hiroshi waited for Mio's reply, mentally preparing for the negative outcome.

"Thanks, but…" Mio replied, Hiroshi's eyes brightening at her second word. "I think I'll be ok. I can do this." She said sounding unsure of herself but with determination evident in her eyes.

"Thank you." Hiroshi replied resisting the urge to jump for joy and punch the air. "After practice we usually go for drinks. Would you like to come with us? Our treat as thanks for helping the band in our time of need."

"Er… that's very kind of you, but I'm only sixteen." Mio answered

"Oh… I could have sworn you were older than Daisuke." Hiroshi said surprised.

"How old is Daisuke?"

"Eighteen."

"Why did you think I was older than him?"

"Cos' he's a midget. Anyway, there's a place that does food and usually has live music nearby that you don't have to drink at. We usually go there." Hiroshi clarified.

"Hmmmm…" Mio mulled it over. "Yeah, sounds fun."

"Awesome! Now let's get some practising done!" Hiroshi said with renewed enthusiasm.

"I need to go to the bathroom first." Mio deadpanned.

"Oh! My bad!" Hiroshi smiled sheepishly and walked back to the practice room.

* * *

When Mio was done, she went back to the practice room feeling slightly more confident that she could handle this feral musical juggernaut she had to be in the vicinity of. After all, they all seemed like nice guys. "You were quick Hiroshi." Phil stated looking between Hiroshi and Mio. "I've heard of prematurity, but that's ridiculous!"

Well most of them seemed like nice guys. "Dammit man, can't you see she's uncomfortable here?" Hiroshi sighed motioning to Mio.

"Are you?" Phil asked, surprised. "Sorry! I didn't realize! I-I…" Mio was slightly stunned to see Phil stumbling like he was.

"It's ok!" Mio reassured him. "It's my fault that I find your music kinda… scary. Just act as you always do."

"OK!" Phil immediately perked up. "In that case, I'll just put on my Chippendales!" He was then promptly met with a drumstick to the side of the head

"YOU'RE TOO FAT TO BE A STRIPPER AND STOP FUCKING AROUND!" Daisuke roared.

"Ok!" Phil chuckled, unfazed by the drumstick to the head. "Let's get back to practice." A phrase Mio wasn't used to hearing.

Phil showed Mio how to play the song they played earlier entitled Insane Messiah_._ The song didn't have too many riffs and didn't have a very complex structure that made it difficult to remember what riff was played next. The main difficulty of Insane Messiah was the sheer speed Mio had to hit the strings. She'd sometimes play bass with a pick in order to add a more percussive feel to a song. But with this particular song, pick playing was one hundred percent necessary if she was going to be able to play this song up to speed by the deadline of two weeks. After an hour of playing the song, she was able to play it full tempo with little to no mistakes but her left arm felt like it was about to fall off.

"Ouch." Mio muttered to herself while rubbing her cramped up forearm.

"Never had to shred before?" Hiroshi asked with concern as he saw Mio rub her aching arm.

"No." Mio gave a pained grunt.

"Man, I how remember how I felt when I was first trying to get my picking hand up to speed." Phil chimed in. "By the time I finished, I felt like I gave a hand job to everyone in town!"

"You'd know what that feels like." Daisuke smirked.

"Oh, you bitch!" Phil said in a comically effeminate way while lightly swatting the air. Hiroshi and Daisuke immediately began snickering with Mio close behind. "Anyway, since we have an hour left. We'll show you how to play a song we're covering for the gig. This way you can practice the song at home along to a recording. Sound good?" Mio nodded. "Alright then, this is a song called _Mortal Share_ by a band called Insomnium. It's a lot slower and more melodic than _Insane Messiah _and the bass line is very simple. Just focus on what I'm playing"

They then went into the song Mortal Share. The vibe the band gave off was very different when they were playing the cover. Daisuke had a nonchalant look on his face; clearly he didn't enjoy playing this one as much as the last as there was no trace of the expression of psychotic glee he had previously. Phil looked more subdued as well, either he was trying to feel the mood of the more melancholic song, or he was making an effort to not scare Mio. She appreciated it either way. Hiroshi on the other hand looked positively beaming! His expression reminded Mio of how her friend Yui looks when you give her some cake. When the song got to the mid-section, the band seemed to have more energy and get into the song more, Hiroshi included! Mio didn't think that was possible after seeing his elated expression during the first half of the song. After the song ended Phil looked to Mio to ask her something but Hiroshi interrupted him.

"Dude! Why didn't you play the harmonies?" Hiroshi asked sounding disappointed.

"To give Mio-san a better idea of what she should play." Phil replied as though that was the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh… oh yeah."

"The boner you have for harmonies is starting to affect your brain Hiroshi." Phil smirked.

"Hey! Harmonies rule!" Hiroshi stated defensively. "They sound awesome and it's why bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Iron Maiden got successful!"

"Maybe, but if you compare the likes of Avenged Sevenfold to Iron Maiden again I'll have to slap you!" Phil threatened. Mio couldn't really tell if he was joking or not which made her slightly uneasy.

"Whatever." Hiroshi rolled his eyes and Phil's smirk reappeared. "We'll have to continue this retarded, age old argument later."

The last hour was spent with Mio learning Mortal Share. Getting walked through the sections of the song where the bass was playing something different to the root notes of the rhythm guitar, such as the chorus where Phil was going to be harmonizing what Hiroshi was playing. Therefore there were no chords being played for their live rendition of the chorus or the second part of the mid-section. The song wasn't hard but her left hand was still aching after learning Insane Messiah, so trying to play along with the band was still quite a challenge. When Mio was done learning the song there was only a few minutes of rehearsal time left. The band went through the whole song once and that was it for their allotted time.

"Hey guys! Your time's up." A worker of the studio came in, standing one foot in the room. "You can extend if you want?" Phil's face formed a massive smile whereas Mio's heart sank at the prospect of playing for longer. Phil then turned to face Daisuke.

"DUDE! Shall we?" Phil questioned excitedly.

"Please say 'no'" Mio thought to herself.

"Hell yes! Let's do it!" Daisuke replied with equal enthusiasm.

"Crap." Mio thought. Still not voicing her concerns about her aching arm.

"Um… I think Mio's arm will fall off if we go on for longer." Hiroshi interjected, pointing at Mio as he spoke.

"W-well…" Mio rubbed her wrist and forearm, partly from the pain and partly from nervousness about not knowing how to break it to them that she didn't think she could play any longer for fear of her arm getting to the point where it would need a medical professional to check it for inflamed or destroyed ligaments… at those horrific thoughts her voice came to her. "I-I-I don't thi-"

"Plus I need a FUCKING BEER!" Hiroshi continued.

"BEER!" Phil shouted enthusiastically starting to pack his guitar away. The rest of the band started to pack their stuff away. Hiroshi and Phil clearly looking forward to the drinks, Daisuke rolling his eyes and mumbling something along the lines of 'big deal' and 'that's great for you guys but I can't drink' and Mio was pretty sure she heard him say 'dickheads' among the other stuff.

"Hey Mio, you coming to the Booze n' Blues with us?" Daisuke asked, interrupting his own barely audible rant.

"…With a name like that are you guys sure I'll be allowed into this place?"

AN: Sorry it took a while to update. It was due to computer problems.


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